Friday, April 17, 2015

Polish boxers are "Down but not Out"

A group of worried looking young people sit on a bus driving through the night, they try to play with their phones and chat nervously. Only one man looks relaxed, slightly older than the others, he tries to joke but no-one is listening.

They are boxers heading to a tournament in their native Poland filmed for ‘Down but not Out’. The men appear to have some experience but the four women are first-timers. Cue tension.

To my eyes the film-makers really capture the excitement, dread and humour of being a fighter. They take you from that bus, to a hostel (and obligatory toilet humour) right through the day of the fights.

Unlike an American or Irish film, they avoid taking the women - Daria, Anja, Alicja and Anja – or any fighters for ‘one to one’ chats with the camera. Instead they draw you in with the camera until you are suddenly cheering for one or the other. This becomes complicated by problems besetting the female side of the show.

Anyone familiar with sport at all will love Coach Prezmek. Watching how he relates to the fighters, changing his approach between the men and women is fascinating. The pep talks in the bus going and returning from the show are worth the download price alone.

His best line? Trying to cheer up the fighters who lost, he says: “All of you are modelling clay” and encourages them to see the loss as just a step on the road to success. Not quite sure if it works going by the glum faces though!